


Serious Business

by leviathanchronicles



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, LARPing, i GUESS i mean it isn't super traumatic, it can be read as romantic but i kept it p platonic, they're thirteen in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 14:19:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11060778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviathanchronicles/pseuds/leviathanchronicles
Summary: LARPing, for all the strengths it holds over regular roleplaying, comes with a fair number of weaknesses, as well. The most pressing of those weaknesses to two kids who skipped every gym class they could is obvious.





	Serious Business

Live action roleplaying comes with a certain kind of responsibility. It isn't like some other, less immersive forms of roleplay. For live action, you need a setting, you need a plan, you need costumes and world-building and a location where you can run at your leisure. It's very serious business, and Jeremy and Michael treat it as such.

Their costumes are merely slightly peculiar clothing; their weapons, strategically selected branches; however, they hold themselves with utterly grave personas. It’s a game both of them have played since they were little kids, but at thirteen, they recognize how their peers would react. It isn't even speculation; too often, they'd hear taunts about how they were 'playing house' with each other. Michael didn’t mind, but Jeremy did, so the two typically ended up here, in the corner of the local park, tucked behind a row of trees. In a couple months, they’ll find out that this little alcove was a make-out spot for local teens, but for now, it is merely a nice place to reenact dramatic death scenes. 

Jeremy spins a tale with the hero’s final speech, and Michael, the greedy bandit, crouches in anticipation of the first lunge. This anticipation is well warranted: Jeremy abruptly ends the speech and jumps towards Michael, no doubt hoping to catch him off guard. Michael does his best to keep in character, but his indignant shout is muffled by his gasps of laughter. Jeremy responds with his own chuckle even as he swings his branch again.

Michael dodges the hit and takes advantage of Jeremy’s resulting stumble to break into a run. He could just hit Jeremy with his branch, but then Jeremy would be ‘dead’, and there’s no fun in skits being cut short in the name of logic. No, you keep it going until dramatic tension has been built up suitably eough.

There’s nowhere for him to really run; this really is a tiny area in the park, so he’s forced to more or less move in a circle. Having recovered, Jeremy approaches Michael all too dramatically; if this weren’t such serious business, it would’ve been laughably well done.

Mirroring this serious approach is Michael, clutching his branch and breathing heavily as he searches for an escape, the very sight of a captured criminal. He goes with the obvious; as soon as Jeremy gets within fighting distance, he ducks under Jeremy’s arm, grazing Jeremy’s ankle with his branch as he does.

Jeremy dramatically gasps and stumbles at the same time that Michael’s foot gets caught in a tree root. He hits the ground, and the thud is harsh enough to make Jeremy turn. Having given up any idea of roleplaying, Michael bites his lip and lets out a rough, strained hiss of air. It doesn’t take a visual cue to know that his ankle is injured, but he glances at it anyway. As soon as he does, he's stuck watching it, as if afraid his skin will succumb to gangrene right in front of him.

Jeremy drops his own branch and kneels beside Michael, the two of them staring at the injury for a long moment. A muted sob drops out of Michael’s mouth, and Jeremy lets out his own nervous sigh. He clicks his tongue, then leans closer, squinting at any visible part of the injury.

“I think you really hurt your ankle.” It’s commentary on the obvious, and, were Michael not in pain, he would've said as much. While most of the injury is covered by Michael's shoe, the surrounding skin is red and swollen, with a few stray blisters from the offending true root. Jeremy reaches out a hand to examine the injury but thinks better of it, redirecting to pat Michael’s shoulder. Before Michael can really consider how ridiculous of a gesture that is, Jeremy turns his back. Noting Michael’s slight trance, he even awkwardly taps his shoulder blades. “I’ll give you a piggyback ride home.” 

It’s an uncomfortable fit at best, with Michael’s arms too long to go anywhere and Jeremy stumbling as he stands, but eventually, they manage to move forward. Every time Jeremy stops to reposition Michael, Michael gasps in obvious pain, in turn causing Jeremy to fret about needing to reposition him.   
They’re barely out of the park, falling victim to curious stares from anyone paying attention, when Jeremy finds a stable enough foundation to instead focus on the next matter at hand: Michael’s obvious distress. It takes only a moment of thought, punctuated by another muffled gasp, and Jeremy grins before turning his expression stony, as if Michael could even see him. 

“Starting from before you hit my ankle –” His tone switches to the best narrator he can manage with a voice that cracks constantly “– The hero moves across the field, moving his sword into position. As he approaches the, uh, villain – no, make it the fiend – he approaches the fiend and swings, aiming for a critical hit.”

The ensuing pause leaves Jeremy to wonder if he’d just embarrassed himself. After all, Michael had just gotten injured, he probably isn’t in the mood for spinning thread. Soon enough, though, Michael hums and nods against Jeremy’s shoulder. He attempts to sit up straighter while he speaks. “The bandit dodges – he runs under the hero’s arm, hoping to maybe hit him as he does. The bandit hits the hero, I mean.” A pause, and he chuckles. “The bandit trips over his stolen goods and hurts his ankle.”

By the time they get to Michael’s home, the two are four versions deep in a causal time loop wherein various roleplay characters are giving each other piggyback rides. Michael wraps his arms around Jeremy tighter in an attempt to hug him, but his position only ends up choking Jeremy, who complains promptly. 

The two continue their spoken roleplay the next day, with Michael’s ankle bandaged and Jeremy melodramatically rubbing his neck at intervals. The hero never succeeds at actually killing the bandit, or even so much as leaving him alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, all! This work was originally going to be a section in a fic with the description "four times Jeremy was there for him, and one time he was not." However, it got to be too long, and I decided it made a nice stand alone fic.   
> If you'd be interested in some longer renditions of those other four sections, let me know, I'd definitely be interested in writing them!  
> As always, kudos and comments make writing a thousand times better, so feel free to give me some constructive criticism, ideas, requests -- anything at all!


End file.
